hereditary

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hereditarie,^[2] borrowed from Latin hērēditārius (“of or connected with inheritance, inherited”),^{[3][2][4][5][6]} from hērēditās (“heirship, inheritance”),^[3][2][6] from hērēs (“heir”).^[7][8][9] The American Heritage Dictionary traces it to the root Proto-Indo-European *ghē-,^[4] which Etymonline glosses "to be empty, left behind".^[2] Post-classical writers used the Latin adjective for original sin (4th century), for a person holding a position by inheritance (11th century) and for disease passed from one generation to the next (14th century, and in Guy de Chauliac in 1363).^[3] Compare hereditaire, hereditario and ereditario.^[3] It is related to heir, heredity and heritage.^[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a disease or bodily trait, passed naturally from parents to children: in an English translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, perhaps before 1425.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the oldest English sense was used of diseases.^[2] By about 1450 the word was used more generally of a quality or attitude passed down from a forebear;^[3][2] from 1538 it described a possession, right or title passed on by legal inheritance;^[3] Johnson (1755) gave only this legal sense, quoting Shakespeare.^[10] From 1600 it described a person holding a position by inheritance, such as a monarch.^[3] Since 1712 a hereditary has been such a person, especially a hereditary peer of the House of Lords.^[3] The theological sense of sin inherited from Adam is recorded from 1577, and Whitehead and Russell's Principia Mathematica (1910) gave it a meaning in set theory.^[3]

Timeline

• ?a1425 – of a disease or trait, passed from parent to offspring.^[3]
• ?c1450 – passed down from a forebear.^[3]
• 1538 – of a right or title, passed by legal inheritance.^[3]
• 1577 – of sin, inherited from Adam.^[3]
• 1600 – of a person, holding a position by inheritance.^[3]
• 1712 – noun, a person who holds a position by inheritance.^[3]
• 1910 – in mathematics, of a set or property.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Passed on genetically from parents to their children: a hereditary eye disease.^[11][12][3]
2. Passed down by inheritance under the rules of descent, as a title or right; holding a position in this way: a hereditary chief.^[12][11][3]
3. Received from one's ancestors; traditional: the clans' hereditary rivalry.^[12][11]
4. Of or relating to inheritance.^[11][3]
5. (mathematics) Of a set, containing every element related in a given way to its members; of a property, passed on to such elements.^[12][3]

Word family

• hereditarily
• hereditariness
• hereditarian
• nonhereditary

Related words

• heir
• heredity
• heritage
• inherit
• heritor

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins